Drum culture has accompanied Chinese civilization for thousands of years and has a deep spiritual meaning, far     1     its physical meaning. Confucius regarded the “Drum Dance”     2     (high).

At the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 200 drummers in red formed a round drum array (队形) to dance and beat drums. The perfect beats     3     (draw) the curtain on the exceptional Olympic Games. Chinese drum is an ancient practice     4     Chinese culture is deeply rooted.

The earliest reference to a clay fired drum     5     (date) back to the Pottery Age. In ancient China, drums were played to pray to the gods for good weather in agriculture, strike fear in the heart of the enemies in the war and later on accompany some performances and labor     6     (compete).

Dozens of types of Chinese drums exist today. For instance, “Taiping drum” is used to express praying for peace and prosperity while “Ansai waist drum”,     7     (mean) to interpret the spirit of the Losses Plateau and the     8     (hero) character of Northwest farmers, is still popular.

The boom of drum culture reflects     9     stable and prosperous Chinese society. For thousands of years, the drum beats have played in the backdrop,     10     (diversify) Chinese traditional culture.

2 . It’s common to see a barista (咖啡师) create coffee art, but it’s a whole different ballgame doing the same thing with tea. Creating tea art in cups, or dian cha in Chinese, enhances the taste of tea.     1     The difference is that it is made of tea rather than milk.

Chinese tea culture started to enjoy popularity during the Tang Dynasty and flourished throughout the Song Dynasty. Different from the method of brewing (酿造) tea during the Tang period, in the Song Dynasty, the popular way of having tea was through dian cha. In the eyes of people of that time, good tea should be white and fine.     2    

The process begins with hot water being poured over fine powdered tea creating a paste. Then more hot water is slowly added as the tea is constantly whisked by hand with a bamboo stick. The action of pouring hot water is called dian, hence the name dian cha.     3     It usually requires whisking the mixture between 180 and 200 times before the water and the tea are fully combined and the foam appears. Then, one can feel free to make artistic designs in the foam with the tea paste.

    4     It takes a year of practice, through trial and error, for one to achieve such proficiency (熟练度).     5     To extend its life, it’s advisable to take a photo.

3 . Visitors to the Yangguan Museum in Dunhuang, Northwest China’s Gansu Province, over the recent May Day holiday had the opportunity to see the first restored Mingguang armor (铠甲) from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The 1.86-metertall suit of armor gave visitors a window through which they could appreciate the wisdom of ancient Chinese artisans and the charm of China’s armor culture.

Wen Chenhua, the artisan who restored the armor that played a significant role on the battlefield more than 1,000 years ago, is one of the biggest fans of ancient armor in China. Following his passion, he has made the restoration of armor his lifelong career.

Since 2008, Wen and his team of over 30 people have produced more than 10,000 armor replicas according to ancient samples, gradually gathering thousands of followers from around the world who have been caught up by the charm of Chinese armor culture.

Armor from the Tang and Song dynasties are Wen’s favorites. He pointed to the Mingguang armor as a specific example. Mingguang means “ bright and shiny ” and in this case refers specifically to glittering nature of the breastplate of the armor, according to Wen. Due to prohibitions against privately storing suits of armor in ancient times, there are very few complete suits of armor that have been well preserved in China and detailed written records remain scarce.

Although Wen found many mentions of ancient armor in historical records, most records did not discuss what the armor actually looked like. He also used the statues of goddesses in the Mogao Grottoes as references, as the armor on one of these statues still had color. It took Wen and his team several months to restore the Mingguang armor. It is composed of more than 1,300 iron pieces and weighs nearly 25 kilograms in total. They used modern technology to create patterns that were inspired by a traditional forging technique popular in the region during the Tang Dynasty. Wen said that all of these endeavors are aimed at getting as close as possible to historical reality, noting that “ no one can see the real Mingguang armor but I will try my best to restore the truth. ”

7 . In the 2022 Beijing Olympics process, hand-kitting (手工编织的) Chinese knot, a symbol of unity and happiness in Chinese context, is loved by friends from other countries. It has a complex graceful curve, but it can be reduced to the simple two-dimensional line. It displays fantasy and wisdom of the ancient Chinese civilization. It has elegant appeal which comes from the basic tools of human life in the beginning years.

Preparation of Chinese knot, roughly divided into three categories: the basic knot, varying knot and combinatorial knot. Its knitting techniques, in addition to all the basic techniques, agree with a common principle of knitting and can be summarized as the basic techniques and combinations techniques. But the basic techniques use a single line, double line or lines to knitting, or change the use of the parallel thread (线) to separate thread so as to make colorful knot or bow section; and a combination of techniques use the extend of head and extended ear flap (耳帽), and combine various knot flexibly, complete pack of ever-changing knot ornaments (装饰).

To design a set of beautiful decorative knot, the most important thing is to determine what the knot will be used for. Accordingly, determine its size and shape, taking into account of the appropriate use of color matching and accessories. The shape, color and ornaments should suit each other. Do attach your own artistic beauty and deep emotion to it, which will be able to fully demonstrate the beauty of Chinese traditional art.

Long cultural heritage makes the Han ethnic Chinese knot techniques unique, purely cultural essence, rich in cultural heritage. Chinese knot not only has shape and color beauty, but also gain its name because of its meaning, such as endless knot, caisson knot (藻井结) and double the money knot, reflecting the ancient Chinese cultural beliefs and strong religious meanings. It represents the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty of good intentions.